Monday, April 02, 2007

Playing It Cool

Stanford's football team needs all the help it can get, and research scientist Dennis Grahn, left, and professor Craig Heller are doing all they can to get the Cardinal back up and running.

Knowing that athletes tend to overheat, which in turn limits performance, the men have developed a method for cooling that maximizes heat transfer through a player's palms. The device is called the Core Control.

Here's how it works. The palm, a natural radiator point, is placed over a water-cooled steel plate inside a vacuum chamber. The suction then draws the warm blood from the body's core out to the palm, where the plate cools it.

Grahn and Heller say the system is believed to be better than cooling off with a bucket of ice. Biologists say ice would be counterproductive because extreme cold causes blood vessels to contract, restricting blood flow. Photo courtesy of Stanford Report.